Refrigeration appliance with an ice maker

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator includes an ice maker arranged in an interior compartment, and an illuminant integrated into a housing of the ice maker that illuminates a part of the interior compartment above the ice maker.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance, inparticular a domestic refrigeration appliance with an integratedautomatic ice maker.

Refrigeration appliances of this type generally have a niche in a door,in which a container can be set and a passage running through the wallof the niche, through which passage pieces of ice can be dispensed outof the ice maker into the container without a door having to be openedSince the niche is to be arranged at a height which can be reachedcomfortably by a user and the ice maker has to reach inside therefrigeration appliance up to the passage in order to be able todispense ice, it generally forms a block in the interior compartment,which divides the interior compartment into an upper and a lowersubarea. If internal illumination is arranged in the upper subarea, theice maker casts shadows over the lower subarea. This problem isparticularly serious in the case of refrigeration appliances with anarrow interior compartment, the width of which is essentiallycompletely filled by the ice maker. Narrow interior compartments of thistype appear in particular in the case of freezer parts in side-by-sidecombination refrigeration appliances.

The attachment of two lamps, one for the upper and one for the lowersubarea, is unsatisfactory, since this significantly complicates theassembly of the refrigeration appliance. There is thus a need for arefrigeration appliance comprising an ice maker arranged in the interiorcompartment thereof, with which the interior compartment can beilluminated satisfactorily both above and also below the ice maker in amanner which is simple and requires minimal assembly effort.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective is achieved in a refrigeration appliance comprising an icemaker arranged in an interior compartment by an illuminant, whichilluminates a part of the interior compartment disposed above theicemaker, being integrated into the housing of the icemaker. There istherefore no need to assemble the illuminant and/or an housing into theinterior compartment itself and to route an electrical supply of theilluminant through the housing walls of the refrigeration appliance. Atthe same time, electrical supply lines in the ice maker can be used tosupply the illuminant, and/or a string of lines supplying the icemakerwhich is routed through the housing can be augmented by the lines neededto operate the illuminant with minimal additional costs and withoutincreasing the assembly outlay.

According to a preferred embodiment, a vertical light channel isembodied on the housing and the illuminant is arranged on the lightchannel in order to radiate upward and downward.

The space required to accommodate the illuminant can be provided in thesimplest of cases in the direct vicinity of the ice reservoir.

A cut-out accommodating the illuminant is preferably formed on anexterior of the ice reservoir.

This cut-out can be formed as a reflector in order to improve the lightefficiency.

To achieve a symmetrical illumination of the subareas on the one handbut however to avoid central attachment of the illuminant, which couldimpair the function of the ice maker, on the other hand, two illuminantsare preferably arranged in a mirror-symmetrical fashion in respect ofeach other on opposite sides of the housing of the ice maker.

It may also be expedient to provide light-emitting diodes asilluminants, since the space requirement thereof is very minimal andthey can therefore be inserted relatively easily into different pointsin the ice maker housing.

In particular, light-emitting diodes for radiating upward and downwardcan be arranged both on the upper side and also on the lower side of theice maker.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the invention result from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theappended figures, in which;

FIG. 1 shows a schematic section through a refrigeration appliancecomprising an automatic ice maker;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the ice maker;

FIG. 3 shows a section through the ice maker according to a firstembodiment, and

FIG. 4 shows a section through the ice maker according to a secondembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a schematic section through a refrigeration appliancecomprising an integrated automatic ice maker 3. A niche 2 is formed in amanner known per se in a door 1 of the refrigeration appliance, in whichniche a container to be filled can be positioned. The refrigerationappliance is as tall as or taller than a person, the niche 2 shouldhowever, in order to enable user-friendly operation, not be arrangedabove the chest height of a user. To be able to fill a container (notshown) which is positioned in the niche 2 with pieces of ice from theice maker 3 through a passage 4 formed in the wall of the niche 2, theicemaker 3 is to be positioned directly above the niche 2 and extend inthe depth direction to beyond the niche 2. The ice maker 3 thussubdivides the interior compartment of the refrigerator into an uppersubarea 5 and a lower subarea 6.

The ice maker 3 includes a tray 7, which can be pivoted about an axiswhich runs at right angles to the sectional plane in FIG. 1 and aplurality of hollow molds which can be filled with water in order togenerate ice. A distributor for filling the hollow molds is identifiedwith 8, an electronic control circuit and a motor for driving thepivoting movement of the tray 7 are accommodated in an upper housingpart 9 of the ice maker 3. A lower housing part 10 of the icemaker 3essentially accommodates an ice reservoir 11 and, separated herefrom bya wall 12, a motor 13 for driving a feed helix 14 extending through theice reservoir 11 and a crusher 15 arranged directly above the passage 4.

If pieces of ice develop in the cavities of the tray 7, the controlcircuit switches on an electrical heater in the tray 7, in order to thawout the surface of the pieces of ice and to render them moveable and themotor pivots the tray 7 so that the pieces of ice fall out of the hollowmolds or are pressed out over a stationary branch of the distributor 8which extends across a hollow mold and slide into the reservoir 11 abovethe sloping upper side of the wall 12.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the ice maker 3. The tray 7 with thehollow molds formed therein and the distributor 8 with its branches aswell as a part of the ice reservoir 11 is apparent. The ice reservoir 11is largely hidden inside the essentially square lower housing part 10. Atriangular arm 16 protrudes approximately centrally upward from the sidewalls 15 of the housing part 10 in each instance. A cover plate 17 sealsthe upper side of the housing part 10 in front of the arms 16. The coverplate 17 consists of an opaque plastic. Two transparent plastic windows18 which are adjacent to their lateral edges in each instance areinserted into slits in the cover plate 17.

A vertical shield plate 19 rises above a rear edge of the cover plate17. It allows the cover plate 17 to be used to accommodate refrigeratedgoods by preventing them from protruding beyond the rear edge of thecover plate 17 and hindering the operational movement of the tray 7. Theshield plate 19 is held in a pivotable fashion on the upper ends of thearms 16 and can be folded up in order to enable access to the tray.

The side walls 15 of the lower housing part 10 are connected along theirlower edges by means of a transparent base plate 20.

FIG. 3 shows a section through the upper housing part 10 of the icemaker 3 along a plane lying in front of the shield plate 19. The icereservoir 11 is accommodated in a dish 21, in which cutouts 22 on lowerlateral corners are in each instance formed in an approximatelyquarter-cylindrical shape. These cutouts 22 receive the glass tubecomprising two bulbs 23, the threads of which are anchored to holders ina vertical region of the wall 12 surrounding the motor 13. On the onehand the bulbs 23 radiate directly downward through the transparent baseplate 20 and therefore illuminate the subarea 6. Light radiated towardthe dish 21 is also largely reflected downward toward the inner surfacesof the cutouts 22. One part of the light radiated upward passes throughvertical channels 24, which extend in each instance between the sidewalls 15 of the housing part 10 and those of the dish 21 and reach thewindow 17, and form an upper termination in the channels 24. Theundersides of the windows can be structured so as refract or scatter thelight which passes through the upper subarea 5 toward the center of thesubarea 5 respectively.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, FIG. 4 shows asection which is similar to FIG. 3 through the housing part 10. Thehousing parts of the ice maker are the same as in the embodiment in FIG.3, however the bulbs 23 are omitted so that their holders 25 are visiblein the wall 12 and a printed circuit board 27 equipped on its lower sidewith light-emitting diodes 26 extends instead across essentially thewhole width of the housing part 10 between the base of the dish 21 andthe base plate 20 in order to illuminate the lower subarea 6 and narrow,elongated printed circuit boards 28 with upwardly directedlight-emitting diodes 26 are arranged below the windows 17 in order toilluminate the upper subarea 5.

1. A refrigerator comprising: an ice maker arranged in an interior compartment; and an illuminant integrated into a housing of the ice maker that illuminates a part of the interior compartment above the ice maker.
 2. The refrigerator of claim 1, further comprising a vertical light channel on the housing and wherein the illuminant is arranged on the light channel in order to radiate upward and downward.
 3. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the ice maker comprises an ice reservoir and the illuminant is adjacent to the ice reservoir.
 4. The refrigerator of claim 3, wherein an exterior of a wall surrounding an ice supply includes a cutout that accommodates the illuminant.
 5. The refrigerator of claim 4, wherein the cutout comprises a reflector.
 6. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the illuminant comprises two illuminants symmetrically positioned on opposite sides of the housing of the ice maker.
 7. The refrigerator of claim 1, wherein the illuminant comprises light-emitting diodes.
 8. The refrigerator of claim 7, wherein the light-emitting diodes are on an upper side and on a lower side of the housing of the ice maker. 